how to make book recommendations

• EXPLORE Coupons Tech Help Pro Random Article About Us Quizzes Contribute Train Your Brain Game Improve Your English Popular Categories Arts and Entertainment Artwork Books Movies Computers and Electronics Computers Phone Skills Technology Hacks Health Men's Health Mental Health Women's Health Relationships Dating Love Relationship Issues Hobbies and Crafts Crafts Drawing Games Education & Communication Communication Skills Personal Development Studying Personal Care and Style Fashion Hair Care Personal Hygiene Youth Personal Care School Stuff Dating All Categories Arts and Entertainment Finance and Business Home and Garden Relationship Quizzes Cars & Other Vehicles Food and Entertaining Personal Care and Style Sports and Fitness Computers and Electronics Health Pets and Animals Travel Education & Communication Hobbies and Crafts Philosophy and Religion Work World Family Life Holidays and Traditions Relationships Youth
• HELP US Support wikiHow Community Dashboard Write an Article Request a New Article More Ideas...
• EDIT Edit this Article
• PRO Courses New Tech Help Pro New Expert Videos About wikiHow Pro Coupons Quizzes Upgrade Sign In
• Browse Articles
• Quizzes New
• Train Your Brain New
• Improve Your English New
• Support wikiHow
• About wikiHow
• Easy Ways to Help
• Approve Questions
• Fix Spelling
• More Things to Try...
• H&M Coupons
• Hotwire Promo Codes
• StubHub Discount Codes
• Ashley Furniture Coupons
• Blue Nile Promo Codes
• NordVPN Coupons
• Samsung Promo Codes
• Chewy Promo Codes
• Ulta Coupons
• Vistaprint Promo Codes
• Shutterfly Promo Codes
• DoorDash Promo Codes
• Office Depot Coupons
• adidas Promo Codes
• Home Depot Coupons
• DSW Coupons
• Bed Bath and Beyond Coupons
• Lowe's Coupons
• Surfshark Coupons
• Nordstrom Coupons
• Walmart Promo Codes
• Dick's Sporting Goods Coupons
• Fanatics Coupons
• Edible Arrangements Coupons
• eBay Coupons
• Log in / Sign up
• Arts and Entertainment

How to Recommend a Book

Last Updated: February 17, 2022 References

This article was co-authored by wikiHow Staff . Our trained team of editors and researchers validate articles for accuracy and comprehensiveness. wikiHow's Content Management Team carefully monitors the work from our editorial staff to ensure that each article is backed by trusted research and meets our high quality standards. There are 13 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been viewed 27,862 times. Learn more...

If you’re a book lover who can’t help but get lost in a story, you’re probably constantly looking for ways to have your friends and family join in the reading fun! Recommending a book starts with your own reading life, since you need to be convinced about the books you recommend. Knowing your audience is equally important, since the best recommendations are well tailored to the genres, tones, and themes that they enjoy.

Testing Recommendation Strategies

• You could also ask if they like a particular genre.

• If they enjoy reading melancholic books set in a post-apocalyptic future, recommend books that explore similar themes and moods.
• If they enjoy reading optimistic books with a pragmatic focus, tell them about related books.

• Based on the recommendations of 124 great authors, the best book of the nineteenth century is Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy.
• For twentieth century books, great authors tend to recommend Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov.

• If they’re really into fashion, you could recommend The Devil Wears Prada .
• If they are really into gothic fashion, you could recommend The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty.
• If their tattoo has a fantasy image with a boat, you could look for a fantasy novel with a similar looking cover.

• If they are travelling to Columbia, recommend One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.
• If they are travelling to Denmark, you could recommend Smilla’s Sense of Snow .
• If they are going to Estonia, recommend The Man Who Spoke Snakish by H.E. Eerik Marmei.
• If they are going to Paris, you could recommend Murder on the Eiffel Tower by Claude Izner. You might also recommend Paris Peasant by Louis Aragon or The Ladies’ Delight by Émile Zola. [6] X Research source

• If they just moved to New York City, you could give them Breakfast at Tiffany’s by Truman Capote. You could also recommend Here is New York by E.B. White. [7] X Research source
• If they just moved to Toronto, you could give them Stroll: Psychogeographic Walking Tours of Toronto by Shawn Micallef. [8] X Research source

• If they are changing careers, consider recommending Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard by Chip Heath and Dan Heath.
• If they are an architect, recommend Essays in Architectural Criticism by Alan Colquhoun. [10] X Research source

• If they are into mushroom foraging, recommend Mycelium Running: How Mushrooms Can Help Save the World .
• If they are a watercolor painter, consider recommending a book about a famous watercolor painter. You could recommend Paul Klee: Watercolors, Drawings, Writings.
• If they are a gardener, recommend Rhapsody in Green by Charlotte Mendelssohn . [11] X Research source

• If you know the genre they like, look at the list of recommendations related to this genre on a book lovers' website, such as https://www.goodreads.com/ . [13] X Research source

Using Persuasive Tactics

• If you are on a hike in the woods and want to recommend the Southern Reach Trilogy by Jeff Vandermeer, you could remark, “It’s getting rather spooky, just like Area X in the novel Annihilation .”
• If you are at a bar enjoying a gin and tonic and want to recommend The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, you could say, “It’s like we’re Tom and Daisy in The Great Gatsby . Cheers!” [16] X Research source

• For instance, avoid recommending Marcel Proust’s In Search of Lost Time to someone who typically avoids classical novels.

Expert Q&A

• If you want to recommend the book to a roommate or partner, leave the book lying around in common areas. ⧼thumbs_response⧽ Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0

• If you talk too much about the book you want to recommend, it could backfire. Instead, tell them little bits and pieces about the book to get them curious. ⧼thumbs_response⧽ Helpful 1 Not Helpful 0

You Might Also Like

• ↑ http://bookriot.com/2016/12/28/5-tips-great-recommending-books-2/
• ↑ https://ebookfriendly.com/the-greatest-books-of-all-time-picked-by-125-great-authors-infographic/
• ↑ https://somanybooksblog.com/2016/08/16/creative-ways-to-recommend-a-book/
• ↑ http://www.cntraveler.com/gallery/22-ambassadors-recommend-the-one-book-to-read-before-visiting-their-country/7
• ↑ https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2011/may/19/top-10-books-on-paris
• ↑ http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/entry/new-york-books_n_4024615
• ↑ http://torontoist.com/2010/05/shawn_micallef_stroll/
• ↑ https://www.forbes.com/sites/kerryhannon/2010/12/04/best-books-for-career-changers-give-the-gift-of-possibility/#288a43501b0d
• ↑ http://www.designersandbooks.com/commentator/booklist/barry-bergdoll
• ↑ https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/gardening-blog/2016/dec/01/the-best-gardening-books-of-2016
• ↑ https://www.fastcompany.com/3037181/what-book-should-you-read-next-putting-librarians-and-algorithms-to-the-test
• ↑ http://paperfury.com/how-to-recommend-books/
• ↑ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/culturenews/10015145/Gin-in-culture-10-appearances-in-film-books-and-TV.html

About This Article

• Send fan mail to authors

Did this article help you?

Featured Articles

Trending Articles

Watch Articles

• Terms of Use
• Privacy Policy
• Do Not Sell or Share My Info
• Not Selling Info

wikiHow Tech Help Pro:

Level up your tech skills and stay ahead of the curve

Discover books you'll love!

Enter a book you like and the site will analyse our huge database of real readers' favorite books to provide book recommendations and suggestions for what to read next., take a look at the wsirn gift store for great products and gift ideas., popular subjects, featured quote.

To be creative means to be in love with life. You can be creative only if you love life enough that you want to enhance its beauty, you want to bring a little more music to it, a little more poetry to it, a little more dance to it. — Osho

Latest from the Blog

A conversation with marjan kamali, new year, new book, new ama, a conversation with rachel joyce, december book club and ama with rachel joyce, join for free to save your favorite books.

You can add to and delete from your list(s) at any time.

Ask Me Anything

Each month there is a live monthly Q&A with a wide range of interesting authors. This is your opportunity to understand your favourite books on a much more personal level.

6 Book Recommendation Apps That’ll Tell You What to Read Next

Find your next favorite book, series, or author with these recommendation apps for Android and iPhone.

There's absolutely nothing worse than finishing up a great book or book series and not knowing what to read next. Sometimes it's difficult to find a book series that speaks to you as much as the one you just fell in love with, or to find more niche, smaller authors to support.

This is where book recommendation apps come in handy. Have you ever been to the bookstore and received a print out with your receipt of three or five books you might like based on the ones you just purchased? Well, this is exactly like that, just in app form. Check out the best book recommendation apps you can download today!

1. Likewise

Every day, Likewise presents you with a few books that you can either mark as read or save to read later. Then, you can view your saved books on the Saves tab and even create new lists if you already have a few books on your to-read list.

Related: Ways to Read More Books and Develop a Habit of Reading Regularly

Likewise also has a Community tab where you can view or join discussions, ask for recommendations from others, or join groups in your favorite genres. Then, there's a Discover tab where you can spend hours reading through trending books and lists like "Lana Del Rey's Favorite Reads" or "19 Page-Turners That Read Like an Action Movie."

And what's awesome about Likewise is that you can find more than just book recommendations. If you're looking for new TV shows, movies, or podcasts, the app can help you connect to similar communities and find your next favorites.

Download: Likewise for Android | iOS (Free)

2. Goodreads

With the Goodreads app, you can view personalized recommendations based on your favorite genres and previously read books. When looking at a recommendation, you can rate it if you've already read it or add it to your "Want to Read" list.

The app also has a cover scanner, which is nifty if you're in a physical bookstore. If you see a book you like, you can scan the cover and if there are reviews on Goodreads for the book, they'll pop up instantly.

Goodreads also has quite a few lists to scroll through on the Discover tab, to help you find books. The app also has reading challenges and giveaways, and you can invite friends or join groups to connect with the reading community.

Download: Goodreads for Android | iOS (Free)

Inkitt is a fantastic app to help support upcoming authors who have either just published a book or are currently working on one and want feedback. You can find pretty much every genre imaginable, so there's something for everyone on this app.

Related: Chrome Extensions to Manage Your Reading List

You tell the app what your favorite genres are and it'll automatically recommend you one or two books it thinks you'll like. Once you've read a story, you can comment on it, like it, or leave a full review for it. And you can download available books for free to read them offline while you're out of the house.

Overall, this app is really awesome for finding niche picks from smaller authors that you may not have ever heard of otherwise.

Download: Inkitt for Android | iOS (Free)

4. Bookshelf

Bookshelf won't give you personalized recommendations, but there's plenty to look through on its Explore tab. You can filter books by category to see a plethora of options, including Crime & Thriller, Food & Drink, Romance, Sport, and more. Then, once you select a category, you can even niche down your options further by selecting a subcategory.

At any given time, each category will have 60 of the bestsellers in that genre. And although you can't read reviews for each book, you can see the number of reviews and the star rating for each of the 60 books in a category.

One of the neat things about this app is your virtual bookshelf. You can add all the books you've read and use a five star rating system, tags, and notes to keep track of how much you liked it.

Download: Bookshelf for Android | iOS (Free)

5. BookSloth

BookSloth gives you personalized recommendations based on your interests and lets you browse through curated lists. Then, you can keep track of all the books you've read or want to put on your future reading list, review books when you're done reading them, and even work toward fun in-app achievements.

Related: Tips to Remember More of Every Book You Read

The app also lets you create a profile and connect with people who enjoy the same genres and authors as you. And if you don't want to actually friend anyone, you can just interact with the community by exploring discussions about books or joining book clubs.

Download: BookSloth for Android | iOS (Free)

6. ThriftBooks

If you love to buy physical books, but hate spending your entire paycheck on them, you need to check out ThriftBooks. On top of browsing a ton of curated lists and current bestsellers, ThriftBooks also gives you personalized recommendations. Each book in the app has a five star rating and most have written reviews to go alongside the rating.

ThriftBooks is also great if you're in college and want to find the cheapest textbooks possible. You can always double check Amazon and Chegg just to make sure you're getting the best price, but usually ThriftBooks has other retailers beat.

Plus, if you shop through the app and join the ReadingRewards program, you can get a free book sent to you for every 500 points you earn. And who doesn't love free books?

Download: ThriftBooks for Android | iOS (Free)

Always Have Your Next Book Lined Up

With excellent recommendations at your fingertips, you'll never run out of great books to read. And although the recommendations from app algorithms are usually pretty spot on, the communities within these apps are awesome for finding even more recommendations or just connecting with like-minded people.

If you love the smell, feel, and just enchanting world of physical books, make sure you check out your local libraries, bookstores, or even invest in a book subscription box that'll keep your life fun and interesting.

gsa summer book club

Gunsaulus students, staff, great books, and conversation, how to write a book review or recommendation.

Writing a book review or recommendation is not too difficult! Just make sure you include the following:

1) Go to the Book “Reviews & Recommendations” tab at the top of the blog.

2) Scroll down and click in the box named “Leave a Reply”.

3) Begin writing your review or recommendation for a book making sure to include the following:

• The title and author (I read… by…)
• A summary of what happens that doesn’t give away too much (In this book…)
• Comment on the strengths and weaknesses of the book (the strongest/weakest part of the book is…)
• Personal response (Overall this book was… because…)

The Hobbit by J.R.R Tolkien

Review by: Josh B. Alaska, Grade 5

The Hobbit is an adventurous novel written by J.R.R Tolkien. This book is about an ordinary hobbit who goes from eating a plump, juicy steak to fighting a goblin in a matter of days. Bilbo the hobbit, 13 dwarves, and the wizard, Gandalf, have to travel to Mount Spur through the wilderness to defeat the evil dragon Smaug and reclaim the treasure. On their journey, they encounter many enemies, such as oversized spiders, goblins, and rock giants. However, on their adventure they lose dwarves to their many misfortunes. I like this book because it has action, adventure, and I can connect to some of the problems and settings, because I play outside and have encountered moose, bear, and thorns.

Share this:

One thought on “ how to write a book review or recommendation ”.

Witch & Wizard Book 1

James Patterson

Witch & Wizard is about a dystopian world where if you are born with strange powers you are labeled as ‘Dangerous’ and must be contained from society in a very dangerous prison where to survive you have to be fast and follow rules. The story follows siblings named Whit and Whisty Allgood as they are put into containment with others like them. They soon escape and plan to break everyone else out with non captured different people. I have only gotten my hands on the first book so I don’t know what happens after the end of book 1 but I hope to find it when school starts. I like this book because it has fantasy and magic I have only seen on tv and comes i a series so I always have a book to read.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. (  Log Out  /  Change  )

You are commenting using your Twitter account. (  Log Out  /  Change  )

You are commenting using your Facebook account. (  Log Out  /  Change  )

Connecting to %s

Notify me of new comments via email.

Notify me of new posts via email.

• Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
• Follow Following
• Copy shortlink
• Report this content
• View post in Reader
• Manage subscriptions
• Collapse this bar

Book Recommendations: 100s of Good Books to Read Next

Blog > Book Recommendations

Looking for top fiction and nonfiction book recommendations?

Want book lists and reading lists of the best books of all time?

You’re in the right place!

Here’s what you’ll find on this page…

Explore All TAoL’s Book Lists

Here’s a breakdown of all the book lists and book recommendations on the site…

The Best Books of All Time

These are the overall best books to read (by type)…

The Best Nonfiction Books (A-Z)

These are the best nonfiction books to read (by topic)…

The Best Fiction Books (A-Z)

These are the best fiction books to read (by genre)…

Book Recommendations by Topic

Click below for book recommendations on each of TAoL ‘s 8 areas of life …

• Health & Vitality – Master physical wellness;
• Thoughts & Emotions – Master mental wellness;
• Family & Friends – Build better relationships;
• Love & Partnership – Love and be loved;
• Growth & Learning – Get smart, faster;
• Productivity & Performance – Do more, better;
• Business & Career – Become an effective executive; and
• Wealth & Lifestyle – Free yourself.

Jump Right In: Five Books to Read Next

Need a quick book recommendation? Here are five books to read next…

Top Five Books: Nonfiction Books

Here are my top 5 recommended nonfiction books to read next…

Want more?  Explore  all TAoL’s nonfiction reading lists …

Top Five Books: Fiction Books

Here are my top 5 recommended fiction books to read next…

Want more?  Explore  all TAoL’s fiction reading lists …

Top Five Books: Bestselling Books

Here are the 5 best selling books of all time…

Want more?  Explore  all best-selling books of all time …

3 Things To Know About Book Recommendations

Here are three things you should know about these reading lists…

Book Recommendations Matter.

Did you know that the typical (median) American adult reads 4 books a year?

And even if you read more than that, there’s a good chance you’ll read fewer than 1,000 books in your life time?

That’s not a huge number. Especially compared to the hundreds of thousands of new books that are published each year.

Result? Book recommendations matter.

Because if you’re going to invest hundreds of hours reading just a fraction of all the books ever written, you shouldn’t read anything but the best.

But Most Book Recommendations Suck.

The problem? Good book recommendations aren’t easy to come by. (Unless your best friend is a savant librarian). And it’s hard to sort average book recommendations from the good and the great.

I know how that feels. Which is why I spend hours every week collecting and curating book lists from thousands upon thousands of titles – from bestsellers to classics to prize-winners; from other readers, from other authors and from you.

My goal? To make sure I read only the best fiction and nonfiction ever written. And to save you hundreds of hours in the process by sharing my very best reading lists, filled with good books to read, in one place.

These Book Recommendations Are Different.

So what makes these book recommendations different? 

My suggestions are objective and data-driven.

I DON’T  pick my book recommendations randomly.

I DON’T  regurgitate lists of my (or other people’s) favorite books.

I DO use big data to crowd-source only the most widely read, most loved survivors from my database of thousands of must read books.

I DO use a huge, custom model to run up to date Goodreads data through a proprietary algorithm that curates all my book lists automatically.

Short story?  I do the heavy lifting for you WITHOUT  letting my biases get the better of me.

So, if you’re sick of New York Times or Amazon best seller lists…

If you’re after reliable books lists of the best books of all time, engaging audiobooks, great books for your book club or even some young adult science fiction…

I’ve got good news for you…

You’re in the right place.

And now is the perfect time to pick a book from the book lists above .

Other Best Book Recommendation Websites…

You’ll find a ton of great book lists and book recommendations above.

Still not done scratching that itch?

Here are my three favorite sites (and strategies) for finding good books:

• Goodreads ;
• ​ Amazon ; and

Let me show you how I use them to find books.

NOTE: These sources are GREAT for generating good book ideas.

The problem? They won’t help you decide WHICH book recommendation to read first.

Luckily , that’s exactly what I help you to solve with my book lists above.

Book Recommendations From Goodreads

Goodreads is an endless source of book recommendations.

( Click here  to visit the Goodreads page for How to Read a Book  so you can follow along with the instructions below – best on desktop.)

To get them I use 4 sections that you’ll find on any book page…

• Genre Pages  – In the desktop sidebar you’ll find a section called “ Genres ” which will show you how many times users have shelved a book in a particular genre. Click any of those links to deep dive into more great books on e.g., productivity or business or sci fi.
• Reading Lists – Just above the reviews section you’ll find a section called “Lists With This Book” . In this section you’ll find tons of user-generated book lists that’ll help you dig out more books you might enjoy based on what you’ve already read.
• Author Pages  – If you love one book an author has written, there’s a good chance you’ll enjoy more of their work. To get to those pages, just click the name of the author at the top of any book page to get an overview of their work.
• Readers Also Enjoyed  – In the desktop sidebar you’ll find a section near the top right called “Readers Also Enjoyed” . Hit the ”See similar books…” there to see which books other Goodreads readers who ranked a book highly have also rated well.

Alright, let’s move on to…

Book Recommendations From Amazon

The three obvious places to get book recommendations from Amazon are

• Amazon’s Best Seller  Lists – Which you can granularly filter by genre and topic;
• Book Level Recommendations  – Which you can find on each book‘s individual page under the buy box (e.g., “Customers also view…” or “Related items” ); and
• Author Pages  – Which you can get to by clicking on any author’s name on their book page (see the Goodreads Author Page section above).

WARNING : I trust Amazon’s book recommendations less than I trust Goodreads’s book recommendations.

Why? Because it’s deeply commercial. It’s far more likely to be gamed by publishers and far more interested in promoting books you might impulse buy (e.g., because they’re currently in vogue) than great books that will probably change your life.

Alright, last but not least…

Book Recommendations From Google

It is ALWAYS worth Googling “best books on…” or ”best … books” to see what native recommendations (and webpages) Google comes up with.

WARNING : I trust the carousel of book recommendations at the top of most Google searches least of all these three sources.

Why? Because there’s zero transparency on why those books are chosen or ranked as they are.

That said, the carousel and the top Google results are a great place to pick up “must read” books I can add to my unsorted database when I’m starting to research a new book list.

Book Recommendation FAQs

What are some good book recommendations.

If you’re looking for good book recommendations, the best place to start is to work out why you’re reading in the first place.

If you want to be entertained , start with these best fiction book or biographies .

If you want to be informed , start with these top nonfiction book recommendations or book lists .

What Are Your Top 5 Books?

My top 5 books (nonfiction) are:

1. How to Read a Book ( FREE Summary ); 2. Getting Things Done ( FREE Summary ); 3. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People ( FREE Summary ); 4. Think And Grow Rich ( FREE Summary ); and 5. How to Win Friends And Influence People ( Free Summary ).

If I could go back in time, these are the first 5 books I’d recommend to my younger self.

What Is the Best Book of All Time?

The best book of all time is Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice . No other book has been so loved, by so many people, for so long. (According to Goodreads data and my algorithm.)

NOTE : This will be HUGELY divisive. Why? Because the best book of all time FOR YOU will depend entirely on who you are, what you believe in and why you love to read.

Don’t let this ruin your day. (No matter how strongly you believe that the Bible, or the Qur’an, or the Tao Te Ching or something else deservers this spot.)

Just know that if you’re looking for a book that has been universally and persistently loved more than any other for hundreds of years, Pride and Prejudice is a great place to start.

What Books Should I Read?

What book you should read depends on what problem you’re trying to solve.

If you’re looking to be entertained , then these best fantasy book or best sci-fi book recommendations might be what you’re looking for. (They also make great audiobooks!)

If you’re looking to be informed , or improve your health , or escape debt , or get more done , or learn faster , then check out my nonfiction book lists that dive into those (and many other) topics.

Want High-Quality Book Summaries?

My favourite way to learn from nonfiction books is to write book summaries . I’m not talking kindle-highlights or 3 sentence synopses. I spend days (often weeks) digesting and re-teaching the best lessons from my favorite books. Then I publish those summaries for free. To learn more, head over to the book summaries page .

How to Read More Books…

The second best thing you can do after picking the right books to read is to learn how to read those books right.

And one thing I didn’t understand about reading for a very long time was the difference between reading widely and reading well.

For more on reading widely , read these 27 tips to start reading more books .

For more on reading well , fill out the form below and I’ll send you the exact same 10-step process I use to write TAoL‘s many book summaries based on Adler and Van Doren’s excellent How to Read a Book …

Want A FREE 10-Step Speed Reading Cheatsheet?

Get a FREE 10-step cheatsheet to help you read faster and remember more of what you read based on the classic guide,  How to Read a Book .

The Art of Living will never share your email.  Unsubscribe easily anytime.

Want A FREE Character Traits Cheatsheet?

Send Yourself A FREE Printable Cheatsheet Of 800 Positive, Neutral & Negative Character Traits...

Want A FREE Printable Weekly Planner Template?

Send yourself a FREE  printable weekly planner template you can use to set every week up for success...

Want 6 FREE Interactive Memory Templates?

Get 6 FREE templates  & master the same tools used by Dominic O'Brien to become the 8-time World Memory Champion .

Want 5 FREE Printable Productivity Templates?

Includes : Wheel of Life, Habit & Value Trackers, Goal Setting Worksheet, Daily Planner and Guided Reflection...

Want A FREE Language Learning Toolkit?

Save thousands of dollars and hours with this  FREE 8,000-word language learning guide and toolkit ...